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Rating: Okkervil is the name of a Russian river that flows near Saint Petersburg, but it's also the name of a young band from Austin, Texas! I got to know them when I almost stumbled upon their concert by chance, and as often happens when I end up at a concert without knowing anything about the band… I liked them! It might be because I approach the music I don't know with a different spirit, or maybe it was the venue, the company, or the total lack of expectations. One thing is certain, they immediately impressed me, and at the end of the concert, I bought this album.
Okkervil River effortlessly blends genres like folk and rock, creating a very personal, unconventional style. "Black Sheep Boy" is an example of this. It is with this album (the fifth of their career) that Okkervil River returned on tour in Europe. The record contains eleven tracks, eleven different stories told with the sound of guitars, accordions, mandolins, Wurlitzers, trumpets, and flutes, all accompanied by sounds from everyday objects. Listening to this album means entering, or rather bursting into, the sometimes magical, sometimes romantic and melancholic, sometimes terribly real and dramatic world of singer and songwriter Will Sheff. It alternates ballads like "A King And A Queen", where the mandolin stands out with its vibrant melodies as Will tells us of a sad love and distant times, or more rock-oriented tracks like "Black" (my favorite) and "For Real", where the singer tells of himself and his anxieties, or more romantic pieces like the first track "Black Sheep Boy" (a tribute to Tim Hardin) and the seventh, "A Stone".
All of this is narrated by a particular voice, sometimes raspy. A real storyteller's voice. And as is fitting for a good storyteller, when he finishes his tale, you wish he would start again from the beginning, because maybe those stories are a bit yours too, or simply to savor that music, that voice a little longer!
“I ain’t trying to be no good, I’m happy” - Richard Pryor
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 For Real (04:42)
Some nights I thirst for real blood,
for real knives, for real cries.
And then the flash of steel from real guns
in real life really fills my mind.
I really miss what really did exist
when I held your throat so tight.
And I miss the bus as it swerved from us
and came crashing to its side.
Some nights the blood from real cuts
feels real nice when it's really mine.
And if you want it to be real,
come over for a night,
and we can really, really climb.
Cuz blue bridge lights
might really burn most bright
while we watch that dark lake rise.
And if you really want to see
what really matters most to me,
just take a real short drive.
its just a drive into the dark stretch,
long stretch of night,
really stretch this shaking mind.
And this room, unlit, unheated,
and the ceiling striped,
and the dark black blinds....
I want to know this time
If you're really finally mine
I need to know that you're not lying,
and so I want to see you tried.
And I don't want to hear you say
it shouldn't really be this way,
because I like this way just fine.
Cuz there's nothing quite like
the blinding light
that curtain's cast aside,
and no attempt is made to explain away
things that really, really, really really really are behind.
You can't hide.
You can't hide.
You can't hide.
You can't hide...
08 The Latest Toughs (03:11)
All the latest toughs,
you’ve got to shrug them off or shut them off.
With ten-thousand-time-told truths,
you’ve still got to ask for proof. Ask for proof, because if you’re dying to be led
they’ll lead you up the hill in chains
to their popular refrains
and then your slaughter’s been arranged, my little lamb, and it’s much too late to talk the knife out of their hands.
Well, I woke up on a foggy morning.
Hiding from the sun, he was hiding from the sun.
But it came out and it shot its rays down.
Burning everyone, it was burning everyone.
But they were dying, anyway, to turn to ash, to feel their feelings flash and finally fade away,
in a fabulous and fiery display.
And I don't know what notes you want to hear played,
can't think what lines you'd like me to sing or say,
Not sure what subjects you want mentioned.
So just pause and add your own intentions.
All the latest toughs, well, we have seen that stuff,
and we have seen enough blood in dying coughs,
which means that we have lost. We have lost,
but if you’re crying to be tossed
they’ll toss you down the oubliette
with all the old things that you let yourself forget
because you’d like to love a star
who’d throw you down below the ground he thinks you are.
11 A Glow (03:43)
Come into the den, come into the den
You've got a glow
Climb into my arms with blood on your clothes
You've got a glow
And you're no one's but mine
And nobody knows the land where he's lying
No heat in his bones
No heart that was mine
No hand that I'd hold
And you've got a glow, you've got a glow
(And there's no escaping, the thing that is making its home in your radio)
You're light in a lie
You're lithe and you're strong
And you've wanted to do that, my love, for so long
My live and dead men
Come into the den
You've got a glow
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By Angeldust82
Is there anything purer than a triumphant defeat, a noble surrender?
Can one, in all honesty, ask for more from a simple record???
